Salt Lake Mormon Temple Completely Shutting Down For Four Years

The biggest tourist attraction in the state of Utah is not only shutting it's doors this December, but it's also demolishing and rebuilding most of the surrounding buildings and renovating and modernizing the entire temple.

The temple will shut down on December 29, 2019, and that's when this four-year project starts taking action. The temple itself will be reinforced to be safer, stronger, and to look more modern. Underground tunnels will be built for members to walk through instead of having to cross streets as they do now. The surrounding buildings will be completely demolished and rebuilt. All this is just the beginning. This is a massive undertaking that'll definitely deliver a blow to the downtown Salt Lake City area.

With this construction, there will be traffic jams, congestion, eyesores for a while, and all of this along with the number one attraction for tourism out of commission will definitely slow down the cash flow going in and out of businesses in this area. Sometimes you gotta go through the bad to get to the good right?

You can see and learn more about the LDS Temple project in a tweet they sent out just hours ago. The tweet is just below...

The temple will undergo significant mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural and seismic renovations that will not only modernize the temple's facilities but will allow the 126-year-old building to better withstand a large earthquake.

The south and north entrances to Temple Square will undergo renovations that will make the area more appealing and inviting to visitors. Crews will demolish the solid walls that surround the temple and construct fences that allow those on the outside to see inside the grounds.

The annex and 60s-era buildings on the north side of the temple will be demolished and rebuilt.

The South Visitors' Center will be demolished and replaced with two new guest and visitor pavilions.

A new guest access tunnel underneath North Temple Street will allow visitors to cross from the Conference Center to Temple Square.

The plaza and landscapes from State Street on the east to the Main Street Plaza near the Church Office Building will be "repaired and refreshed with greater emphasis on the visitor experience and on the Savior," church officials said.

Those entering the temple itself will enter through the new north pavilions and proceed to a "grand hall" where they will find the recommend desk — a formal entry point into the temple for members. The desk will sit underneath a large skylight that lets in natural light and provides a view of the temple above.

The Salt Lake Temple ceremonies will be available in 86 languages after renovations are complete. They are currently only available in English. The Salt Lake Temple is one of a few temples that still performs ceremonies completely "live," or by designated temple officiators. After renovations, the ceremonies will be performed both by temple officiators and by video.